Genèse (NAB) 12
12 1 The LORD said to Abram: "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.2 "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you."
4 Abram went as the LORD directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.5 Abram took his wife Sarai, his brother's son Lot, all the possessions that they had accumulated, and the persons they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,
6 Abram passed through the land as far as the sacred place at Shechem, by the terebinth of Moreh. (The Canaanites were then in the land.)7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So Abram built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.
8 From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel, pitching his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there to the LORD and invoked the LORD by name.9 Then Abram journeyed on by stages to the Negeb.
10 There was famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, since the famine in the land was severe.11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: "I know well how beautiful a woman you are.12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'She is his wife'; then they will kill me, but let you live.13 Please say, therefore, that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me on your account and my life may be spared for your sake."
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw how beautiful the woman was; and when Pharaoh's courtiers saw her,15 they praised her to Pharaoh. So she was taken into Pharaoh's palace.16 On her account it went very well with Abram, and he received flocks and herds, male and female slaves, male and female asses, and camels. 17 But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram's wife Sarai.18 Then Pharaoh summoned Abram and said to him: "How could you do this to me! Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her for my wife? Here, then, is your wife. Take her and be gone!"20 Then Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and all that belonged to him.
13 1 From Egypt Abram went up to the Negeb with his wife and all that belonged to him, and Lot accompanied him.2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.3 From the Negeb he traveled by stages toward Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly stood,4 the site where he had first built the altar; and there he invoked the LORD by name.
5 Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents,6 so that the land could not support them if they stayed together; their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.7 There were quarrels between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot's. (At this time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were occupying the land.)8 So Abram said to Lot: "Let there be no strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are kinsmen.9 Is not the whole land at your disposal? Please separate from me. If you prefer the left, I will go to the right; if you prefer the right, I will go to the left."
10 Lot looked about and saw how well watered the whole Jordan Plain was as far as Zoar, like the LORD'S own garden, or like Egypt. (This was before the LORD had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)11 Lot, therefore, chose for himself the whole Jordan Plain and set out eastward. Thus they separated from each other;12 Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain, pitching his tents near Sodom.13 Now the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked in the sins they committed against the LORD.
14 After Lot had left, the LORD said to Abram: "Look about you, and from where you are, gaze to the north and south, east and west;15 all the land that you see I will give to you and your descendants forever.16 I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth; if anyone could count the dust of the earth, your descendants too might be counted.17 Set forth and walk about in the land, through its length and breadth, for to you I will give it."
18 Abram moved his tents and went on to settle near the terebinth of Mamre, which is at Hebron. There he built an altar to the LORD.
14 1 In the days of..., Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim 2 made war on Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).3 All the latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4 For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as Elparan, close by the wilderness.
7 They then turned back and came to Enmishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they subdued the whole country both of the Amalekites and of the Amorites who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.8 Thereupon the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out, and in the Valley of Siddim they went into battle against them:9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar-four kings against five.10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into these, while the rest fled to the mountains.11 The victors seized all the possessions and food supplies of Sodom and Gomorrah and then went their way,12 taking with them Abram's nephew Lot, who had been living in Sodom, as well as his possessions.
13 A fugitive came and brought the news to Abram the Hebrew, who was camping at the terebinth of Mamre the Amorite, a kinsman of Eshcol and Aner; these were in league with Abram. 14 When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he mustered three hundred and eighteen of his retainers, born in his house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.15 He and his party deployed against them at night, defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.16 He recovered all the possessions, besides bringing back his kinsman Lot and his possessions, along with the women and the other captives.
17 When Abram returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and the kings who were allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to greet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).
18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words:
19 "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people; the goods you may keep."22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom: "I have sworn to the LORD, God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth, 23 that I would not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap from anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I made Abram rich.'24 Nothing for me except what my servants have used up and the share that is due to the men who joined me-- Aner, Eshcol and Mamre; let them take their share."
15 1 Some time after these events, this word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great."2 But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be, if I keep on being childless and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?"3 Abram continued, "See, you have given me no offspring, and so one of my servants will be my heir."4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "No, that one shall not be your heir; your own issue shall be your heir."5 He took him outside and said: "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be."6 Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.
7 He then said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession."8 "O Lord GOD," he asked, "How am I to know that I shall possess it?"9 He answered him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon." 10 He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up.11 Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them.
12 As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.13 Then the LORD said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.14 But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth.15 You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age.16 In the fourth time-span the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then."
17 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. 18 It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River (the Euphrates), 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
16 1 Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no children. She had, however, an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram: "The LORD has kept me from bearing children. Have intercourse, then, with my maid; perhaps I shall have sons through her." Abram heeded Sarai's request.3 Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his concubine.
4 He had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant. When she became aware of her pregnancy, she looked on her mistress with disdain.5 So Sarai said to Abram: "You are responsible for this outrage against me. I myself gave my maid to your embrace; but ever since she became aware of her pregnancy, she has been looking on me with disdain. May the LORD decide between you and me!"6 Abram told Sarai: "Your maid is in your power. Do to her whatever you please." Sarai then abused her so much that Hagar ran away from her.
7 The LORD'S messenger found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur, 8 and he asked, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress, Sarai."9 But the LORD'S messenger told her: "Go back to your mistress and submit to her abusive treatment.10 I will make your descendants so numerous," added the LORD'S messenger, "that they will be too many to count.
11 Besides," the LORD'S messenger said to her: "You are now pregnant and shall bear a son; you shall name him Ishmael, For the LORD has heard you, God has answered you.
12 He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him; In opposition to all his kin shall he encamp."
13 To the LORD who spoke to her she gave a name, saying, "You are the God of Vision"; she meant, "Have I really seen God and remained alive after my vision?" 14 That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son whom Hagar bore him Ishmael.16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
17 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless. 2 Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly."
3 When Abram prostrated himself, God continued to speak to him:4 "My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations.5 No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. 6 I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you.7 I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."
9 God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.11 Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the mark of the covenant between you and me.12 Throughout the ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including houseborn slaves and those acquired with money from any foreigner who is not of your blood.13 Yes, both the houseborn slaves and those acquired with money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting pact.
14 If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
15 God further said to Abraham: "As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah. 16 I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples shall issue from him."17 Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?" 18 Then Abraham said to God, "Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!"19 God replied: "Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.20 As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation.21 But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year."22 When he had finished speaking with him, God departed from Abraham.
23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his slaves, whether born in his house or acquired with his money-- every male among the members of Abraham's household-- and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that same day, as God had told him to do.24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.26 Thus, on that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised;27 and all the male members of his household, including the slaves born in his house or acquired with his money from foreigners, were circumcised with him.
18 1 The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot.2 Looking up, he saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground,3 he said: "Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your servant. 4 Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree.5 Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way." "Very well," they replied, "do as you have said."
6 Abraham hastened into the tent and told Sarah, "Quick, three seahs of fine flour! Knead it and make rolls." 7 He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice steer, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.8 Then he got some curds and milk, as well as the steer that had been prepared, and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree while they ate.
9 "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked him. "There in the tent," he replied.10 One of them said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son." Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, just behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and Sarah had stopped having her womanly periods.12 So Sarah laughed to herself and said, "Now that I am so withered and my husband is so old, am I still to have sexual pleasure?" 13 But the LORD said to Abraham: "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I really bear a child, old as I am?'14 Is anything too marvelous for the LORD to do? At the appointed time, about this time next year, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son."15 Because she was afraid, Sarah dissembled, saying, "I didn't laugh." But he said, "Yes you did."
16 The men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom; Abraham was walking with them, to see them on their way.17 The LORD reflected: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,18 now that he is to become a great and populous nation, and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him?19 Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his sons and his posterity to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD may carry into effect for Abraham the promises he made about him."
20 Then the LORD said: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, 21 that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out."
22 While the two men walked on farther toward Sodom, the LORD remained standing before Abraham.
23 Then Abraham drew nearer to him and said: "Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?24 Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty, so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?"26 The LORD replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
27 Abraham spoke up again: "See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!28 What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "if I find forty-five there."29 But Abraham persisted, saying, "What if only forty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it for the sake of the forty."
30 Then he said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?" He replied, "I will forebear doing it if I can find but thirty there."31 Still he went on, "Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?" "I will not destroy it," he answered, "for the sake of the twenty."32 But he still persisted: "Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?" "For the sake of those ten," he replied, "I will not destroy it."
33 The LORD departed as soon as he had finished speaking with Abraham, and Abraham returned home.
19 1 The two angels reached Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to greet them; and bowing down with his face to the ground,2 he said, "Please, gentlemen, come aside into your servant's house for the night, and bathe your feet; you can get up early to continue your journey." But they replied, "No, we shall pass the night in the town square." 3 He urged them so strongly, however, that they turned aside to his place and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking cakes without leaven, and they dined.
4 Before they went to bed, all the townsmen of Sodom, both young and old-- all the people to the last man-- closed in on the house.5 They called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them."
6 Lot went out to meet them at the entrance. When he had shut the door behind him,7 he said, "I beg you, my brothers, not to do this wicked thing.8 I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with men. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please. But don't do anything to these men, for you know they have come under the shelter of my roof."9 They replied, "Stand back! This fellow," they sneered, "came here as an immigrant, and now he dares to give orders! We'll treat you worse than them!" With that, they pressed hard against Lot, moving in closer to break down the door.10 But his guests put out their hands, pulled Lot inside with them, and closed the door;
11 at the same time they struck the men at the entrance of the house, one and all, with such a blinding light that they were utterly unable to reach the doorway.
12 Then the angels said to Lot: "Who else belongs to you here? Your sons (sons-in-law) and your daughters and all who belong to you in the city-- take them away from it! 13 We are about to destroy this place, for the outcry reaching the LORD against those in the city is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters. "Get up and leave this place," he told them; "the LORD is about to destroy the city." But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 As dawn was breaking, the angels urged Lot on, saying, "On your way! Take with you your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city."16 When he hesitated, the men, by the LORD'S mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city.
17 As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told: "Flee for your life! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away."18 "Oh, no, my lord!" replied Lot.19 "You have already thought enough of your servant to do me the great kindness of intervening to save my life. But I cannot flee to the hills to keep the disaster from overtaking me, and so I shall die.20 Look, this town ahead is near enough to escape to. It's only a small place. Let me flee there-- it's a small place, isn't it?-- that my life may be saved." 21 "Well, then," he replied, "I will also grant you the favor you now ask. I will not overthrow the town you speak of.22 Hurry, escape there! I cannot do anything until you arrive there." That is why the town is called Zoar.
23 The sun was just rising over the earth as Lot arrived in Zoar;24 at the same time the LORD rained down sulphurous fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah (from the LORD out of heaven).25 He overthrew those cities and the whole Plain, together with the inhabitants of the cities and the produce of the soil. 26 But Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham went to the place where he had stood in the LORD'S presence.28 As he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole region of the Plain, he saw dense smoke over the land rising like fumes from a furnace.
29 Thus it came to pass: when God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he was mindful of Abraham by sending Lot away from the upheaval by which God overthrew the cities where Lot had been living.
30 Since Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar, he and his two daughters went up from Zoar and settled in the hill country, where he lived with his two daughters in a cave.
31 The older one said to the younger: "Our father is getting old, and there is not a man on earth to unite with us as was the custom everywhere.32 Come, let us ply our father with wine and then lie with him, that we may have offspring by our father."33 So that night they plied their father with wine, and the older one went in and lay with her father; but he was not aware of her lying down or her getting up.34 Next day the older one said to the younger: "Last night it was I who lay with my father. Let us ply him with wine again tonight, and then you go in and lie with him, that we may both have offspring by our father."35 So that night, too, they plied their father with wine, and then the younger one went in and lay with him; but again he was not aware of her lying down or her getting up.36 Thus both of Lot's daughters became pregnant by their father.37 The older one gave birth to a son whom she named Moab, saying, "From my father." He is the ancestor of the Moabites of today. 38 The younger one, too, gave birth to a son, and she named him Ammon, saying, "The son of my kin." He is the ancestor of the Ammonites of today.
20 1 Abraham journeyed on to the region of the Negeb, where he settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he stayed in Gerar, 2 he said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent and took Sarah.3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she has a husband."4 Abimelech, who had not approached her, said: "O Lord, would you slay a man even though he is innocent?5 He himself told me, 'She is my sister,' and she herself also stated, 'He is my brother.' I did it in good faith and with clean hands."6 God answered him in the dream: "Yes, I know you did it in good faith. In fact, it was I who kept you from sinning against me; that is why I did not let you touch her.7 Therefore, return the man's wife-- as a spokesman he will intercede for you-- that your life may be saved. If you do not return her, you can be sure that you and all who are yours will certainly die."
8 Early the next morning Abimelech called all his court officials and informed them of everything that had happened, and the men were horrified.9 Then Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him: "How could you do this to us! What wrong did I do to you that you should have brought such monstrous guilt on me and my kingdom? You have treated me in an intolerable way.10 What were you afraid of," he asked him, "that you should have done such a thing?"11 "I was afraid," answered Abraham, "because I thought there would surely be no fear of God in this place, and so they would kill me on account of my wife.12 Besides, she is in truth my sister, but only my father's daughter, not my mother's; and so she became my wife.13 When God sent me wandering from my father's house, I asked her: 'Would you do me this favor? In whatever place we come to, say that I am your brother.'"
14 Then Abimelech took flocks and herds and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham; and after he restored his wife Sarah to him,15 he said, "Here, my land lies at your disposal; settle wherever you please."16 To Sarah he said: "See, I have given your brother a thousand shekels of silver. Let that serve you as a vindication before all who are with you; your honor has been preserved with everyone."
17 Abraham then interceded with God, and God restored health to Abimelech, that is, to his wife and his maidservants, so that they could bear children;18 for God had tightly closed every womb in Abimelech's household on account of Abraham's wife Sarah.
21 1 The LORD took note of Sarah as he had said he would; he did for her as he had promised.2 Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time that God had stated.3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to this son of his whom Sarah bore him.4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded.5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.6 Sarah then said, "God has given me cause to laugh, and all who hear of it will laugh with me.7 Who would have told Abraham," she added, "that Sarah would nurse children! Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
8 Isaac grew, and on the day of the child's weaning, Abraham held a great feast.9 Sarah noticed the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing with her son Isaac; 10 so she demanded of Abraham: "Drive out that slave and her son! No son of that slave is going to share the inheritance with my son Isaac!"11 Abraham was greatly distressed, especially on account of his son Ishmael.12 But God said to Abraham: "Do not be distressed about the boy or about your slave woman. Heed the demands of Sarah, no matter what she is asking of you; for it is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name.13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a great nation of him also, since he too is your offspring."14 Early the next morning Abraham got some bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. Then, placing the child on her back, he sent her away. As she roamed aimlessly in the wilderness of Beer-sheba, 15 the water in the skin was used up. So she put the child down under a shrub,16 and then went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away; for she said to herself, "Let me not watch to see the child die." As she sat opposite him, he began to cry.17 God heard the boy's cry, and God's messenger called to Hagar from heaven: "What is the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid; God has heard the boy's cry in this plight of his.18 Arise, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand; for I will make of him a great nation."19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and then let the boy drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert bowman,21 with his home in the wilderness of Paran. His mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
22 About that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham: "God is with you in everything you do. 23 Therefore, swear to me by God at this place that you will not deal falsely with me or with my progeny and posterity, but will act as loyally toward me and the land in which you stay as I have acted toward you." 24 To this Abraham replied, "I so swear."
25 Abraham, however, reproached Abimelech about a well that Abimelech's men had seized by force.26 "I have no idea who did that," Abimelech replied. "In fact, you never told me about it, nor did I ever hear of it until now."27 Then Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech and the two made a pact.28 Abraham also set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock,29 and Abimelech asked him, "What is the purpose of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?"30 Abraham answered, "The seven ewe lambs you shall accept from me that thus I may have your acknowledgment that the well was dug by me."31 This is why the place is called Beer-sheba; the two took an oath there. 32 When they had thus made the pact in Beer-sheba, Abimelech, along with Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba, and there he invoked by name the LORD, God the Eternal. 34 Abraham resided in the land of the Philistines for many years.
Genèse (NAB) 12